It’s tempting to think of cooking and hosting as things one either has or lacks a “knack” for, but this is nonsense. Julia Child wasn’t born a world-class cook. She was born a baby, and babies don’t have the motor skills to turn the knobs on a stove, let alone cook a fabulous French onion soup (see page 17 for help with that).

You, who also started life as a weak and helpless baby, can pick up some of those same skills by doing exactly what you’re doing right now: reading. (Well, at some point you do need to do the actual cooking part, but when and how you do that is your business.)

If you’re tasked with hosting this holiday season, these books can either help you get comfortable or level up in the kitchen—or in the host role more generally.

Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share wit

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